About

About

Michael Miller is a composer, bass clarinetist, and educator based in the Kansas City area. As an avid performer, he strongly believes in the aesthetics of the composer-performer and his compositions are informed from a performer's perspective. Michael's body of works are influenced by an eclectic collection of styles and genres including, but not limited to, jazz, rock, Persian dastgāh, death metal, and hip hop. Michael has received commissions from Keith Kirchoff and the Midwest Chamber Ensemble, the California E.A.R. Unit, Music from China, and violist Katrin Meidell, among others. His works have been performed by Mnemosyne Quartet, Hillary Sametz, Richard Prior and the Oklahoma State University Symphony Orchestra, and Embryonic Noise! Michael has received grants from multiple Kansas City organizations such as the Charlotte Street Foundation, Art in the Loop, and ArtSounds—a collaboration between the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Kansas City Art Institute.

As a bass clarinetist, Dr. Miller has performed as a soloist and with ensembles in Europe, South America, and throughout the United States. He has premiered works by composers Robert Carl, Tyler Capp, and Ted King-Smith. Michael is a founding member of Mnemosyne Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to multimedia collaboration, commissioning composers, and developing a distinctive language of crafted improvisation inspired by the environments with which they perform. As a member of Mnemosyne, Michael recently performed for the opening of Adam Cvijanovic’s American Montage at the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City. Other notable performances with Mnemosyne include Anomalous City, a collaboration with Zach Shemon of the Prism Quartet at Prairie Logic and the inaugural Art in the Loop Foundation’s Downtown Kansas City Street Art/Placemaking Pilot Project at Oppenstein Park.

Dr. Miller’s collaborative efforts began while he was a student at New England Conservatory, where his group, The Socially Awkward Composers, was featured on Barry Nolan's Night Beat and was proclaimed as “the wave of music to come” by The Big Screen at Boston's Fenway Park. Recently, he received an ArtSounds grant for Analog Drift—an immersive performance installation—where he acted as both composer and performer. Michael has received degrees from Oklahoma State University and New England Conservatory where he studied with Lee Hyla and Michael Gandolfi. In addition, he recently finished his DMA in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. His teachers included Paul Rudy, James Mobberley, and Chen Yi. Michael teaches music business and audio engineering at the Kansas City Kansas Community College and composition through the UMKC Community Music and Dance Academy and through the Musical Bridges Program.

Michael Miller is a composer and performer who currently resides in the Kansas City area. As a bass clarinetist, he has performed with ensembles and as a soloist throughout The United States, Europe, and South America. As a result, his compositions are strongly informed by a performative perspective. Michael strongly believes in the aesthetic of the composer-performer; a synergy equally evident in jazz, rock, Persian dastgāh, contemporary concert, death metal, hip hop, and every fusional suggenre in between. One of his ensembles, The Socially Awkward Composers, was featured on Barry Nolan’s Night Beat, and was proclaimed “the wave of music to come” by The Big Screen at Boston’s Fenway Park.